I have a final project that is due at the end of next year. Its my CAPSTONE project and I have decided to build a wearable prosthetic arm built out of VEX parts. It will still be controlled by the joystick, but I’m wondering if anyone has done something similar to this. I know that there is a VEX ARM kit somewhere but I can’t find it online. Any help will be appreciated.
Also I am using robotC to program it.
The claw bot is too basic for what I am aiming for. The arm is going to function like a real arm (or as close as it can be)
I think another cool thing you could implement if you have the time is this:
It’s basically motion (“master and slave”) control using potentiometers
Also, is there a specific reason you’re using VEX specific parts?
I’ve only been around in the VEX EDR store so I might be mistaken, but it seems that it might be a restriction?
I’ve only done a little looking around for simple Arduino robotic arms (only because there doesn’t seem to be any yet using VEX) and there are some projects under $200-$300.
How much of the arm do you want to build? Will it be just a hand, a forearm, or the whole arm even to the shoulder? I’ve thought about something similar, and I think the powered 3-axis joints in your shoulder and wrist would be the hardest part. If you’re setting that Vex product limitation on yourself, rather than your professor, you might look for a 3-axis gimbal you can put motors on, or one that already has motors on it. Ebay has some, I know.
I am going to be building a full arm with a claw as the hand. for the wrist im just going to have it be able to spin and move up and down. I already have a rough idea of how it will be put together, but I haven’t sketched it yet.
This will be a really cool project, and I’m excited to see how it turns out. I can help more with the coding aspect. Our programming team already figured out more or less how to simulate a frictionless environment with a screwed up PID loop, so that just needs tuning, if you want to try to eliminate the need for a joystick.
I’m not sure this is relevant, but you might take a look at how this kid linked her robot to brain waves:
A doctor gave a talk for Robotics Week a few years ago from AI DuPont Childrens’ Hospital in Wilmington, Delaware. They have exoskeletons to help kids with some ailment where the patient’s muscles are not well developed (Arthrogryposis is what is says in the viedo description). The assistance of the rubber bands and an exoskeleton allow these kids to do what we take for granted.
Here is a video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3WX4fBVqkE
The doctor said this was the first time the child in the video had ever fed herself. So these are real life changing devices.
Here is the center that is developing the WREX. Dr Rahman heads this group. You may be able to reach out to his group to get more information to do your research.
You may need some padding but this should give you some clues as to rubber band placement on the joints.
You can see the back in this article:
https://www.onlinetmd.com/article/medical-device-design-manufacturing-statasys-3d-printing-080712
https://www.onlinetmd.com/FileUploads/image/Heal.jpg?w=736&h=414&mode=crop
I think there’s a possibility that you were misled by the terminology (if I’m wrong, please don’t be offended and you can just ignore this comment).
“VEX ARM” usually refers to the cortex microcontroller. The processor used in the cortex is an Acorn Reduced instruction set computing Machine processor - nothing to do with arms. (Acorn was a British computer company, and ARM processors are used in a bunch of applications including the Raspberry Pi).
So no, unfortunately there is no VEX kit that lets you assemble a human-like arm. But that shouldn’t stop you from making your own :).
It would be really expensive, but pneumatics might work to actuate the joints.
You can’t have an “in between” value with pneumatics, though.